Sunset Dance
by Golden Riolu
Summary: You can't help who you fall in love with. Even if it means you can never be a part of society. *Contains Pokemon/human romance*


Contains Pokemon/human romance

First: If you read the original, please do not mention it ever again. Ever.

Second: if this is awful, it's because I haven't written in third person for quite a while. And I fully expect it to be full of cliches. Sorry in advance.

Sunset Dance - a romance one-shot

(You can't help who you fall in love with. Even if it means you can never be a part of society.)

A light breeze stirred the leaves of the surrounding trees as two figures moved steadily through a forest. The dying sunlight cast an amber light over the travellers as gravel crunched beneath their feet, causing small creatures to creep through the long grass for a closer look. What they saw was one male human and his partner, a Pokemon resembling a bipedal dog.

"We'll be there soon," the human called over his shoulder, hoisting the padded straps of a heavy backpack higher on his shoulders. The fading sunlight tinged his pale green shirt and dark jeans with a hint of orange, making him look like an image in a faded sepia photograph. He ran one hand involuntarily through his short chocolate-coloured hair as he walked.

Trailing behind him, his partner smiled fondly as she watched. Her wide paws were almost silent on the path and she shivered as the breeze ruffled her short navy and black fur. Her long ears and tail twitched and she turned crimson eyes toward the grass along the side of the path, watching tiny creatures dart out of sight. One black paw reached for a delicate chain around her neck, drawing a tiny locket out from amongst the sunshine yellow fur of her torso. She smiled again, a single word in her mind: Tony.

The human, Tony, glanced back again as he walked. "Lucario? Are you all right?"

Lucario nodded silently, but barely a second later her foot slipped on a loose stone. She let out a sharp cry of pain as her leg crumpled beneath her. Tony raced back to her side in time to catch her just before she landed.

Lucario clung to Tony and drew a deep breath as he lowered her gently to the ground. "What happened?" he asked, concerned.

"I think I slipped," Lucario replied, her thoughts projecting directly into his mind. Her telepathic voice was soft and gentle.

Tony gently gripped her ankle and felt along it, searching for an injury. She winced slightly but didn't complain.

"It's not broken," he said finally. "I think you might've twisted it, though. Can you stand up?"

Her paws tightened on Tony's arm as he began to help her slowly to her feet, supporting most of her weight. She leaned on her unhurt leg to push herself upright. Finally she was standing, her injured foot off the ground, leaning heavily on the human to stay up. She leaned her weight gingerly on the injured leg and drew a sharp breath.

"Don't try to walk on it. You'll hurt yourself even more. Just lean on me." Tony wrapped one arm around Lucario's waist and she clung to his shoulder. Slowly they began to move along the path together.

Several slow minutes later, Tony led Lucario off the path and through the long grass. The trees opened up before them to reveal a clearing large enough to camp in. Unlike in the surrounding areas, the grass here had been cropped neatly around the edges of the clearing and removed completely in the centre, providing an ideal space to light a campfire.

Tony half-carried Lucario into the campsite and lowered her gently to the ground. He shrugged off his backpack and placed it before her, lifting her injured foot onto it. "Stay here," he said, straightening up. "I'll find some firewood."

Lucario watched as he vanished into the trees, then she sighed and leaned forward to rub her ankle. The pain was beginning to fade; the injury wasn't as bad as it had first seemed. She reached for her heart-shaped locket again and examined it for a moment, then gently squeezed a hidden catch, causing it to snap open. Inside was a tiny photograph depicting Tony with his arms around Lucario, the two of them smiling affectionately at each other.

The sound of footsteps announced Tony's return. Lucario snapped the locket closed again as he stepped back into the clearing with a heap of dry branches in his arms. He knelt in the centre of the empty space and deposited the branches on the bare dirt, rearranging them briefly before returning to his backpack for a box of matches.

Kneeling by the pile of wood, Tony fumbled with the box of matches until a light flared. Moments later a flickering fire was blazing, filling the darkening clearing with its soft light. Struck by a sudden thought, Lucario lifted her foot from the backpack and began to search through it.

A gentle strain of music floated through the clearing. Tony paused over the fire and slowly turned his head. Behind him, Lucario was looking rather self-conscious as she placed a small white device on the ground beside her.

"What are you doing with my iPod?" Tony queried.

"I like music," Lucario replied vaguely.

Shaking his head in silent confusion, Tony returned to stoking the fire. As the flames leaped higher, indicating that they were not about to flicker out of existence, a hand fell on the human's shoulder. Limping slightly on her injured foot, Lucario drew Tony to his feet and led him away from the flames, one arm curled gently around his waist. "I also like to dance," she whispered. "Will you dance with me?"

"You'll make your ankle worse."

"It doesn't hurt at all."

A loving expression came over Tony's face as the two swayed gently to the music. Lucario's head was resting against his chest and she was leaning more heavily on him than she usually would, but he didn't mind at all. Even as the sun finally disappeared from the sky and a chill settled over the forest, the two continued dancing. Even while the night creatures began to wake, time had slowed almost to a standstill in the clearing.

"I really care about you," Lucario breathed.

Tony didn't know what to say in response. Lucario didn't mind his silence; she was used to it.

It seemed like forever that the dance continued, but abruptly the music came to a halt and silence filled the clearing. Tony disengaged his arms from around Lucario's waist and bent to pick up the tiny machine lying a few feet away. "The battery is dead," he announced.

The crackling sound of the fire was all that broke the silence as Lucario lowered herself slowly to the ground before the warmth. She gripped her locket once again as Tony returned to her side, having replaced his now-useless iPod in his backpack. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

Lucario shook her head. "No. I was just thinking… why can't society accept us? What do the humans have against us?"

"We're not the problem," Tony said quietly, staring into the flickering flames. "Our relationship is what they don't like. They think that if a human is with someone who isn't another human, it's disgusting and wrong. Humans are meant to be with humans, Pokemon are meant to be with Pokemon…"

Lucario shook her head despairingly. "But you can't help who you fall in love with."

"Do you know what they call us?"

Lucario turned her head to look at him properly. "Call who?"

"People like me. Humans who are with Pokemon. They call us Pokephiles," he hissed, practically spitting the word into the flames so that they crackled and sparked in fury. "Pokephiles, people who take advantage of Pokemon."

"But you're not like that," Lucario protested, edging closer to lean against Tony.

"Neither are most of the people like me. There's an entire community out there, or maybe even hundreds of them; groups of humans who are hated and feared for the lives they've chosen to lead, simply because those lives are spent with a Pokemon. But love sees no boundaries… they shouldn't be rejected simply because of who they love…"

Half-lying with her upper body across his lap, Lucario reached for Tony's hand and squeezed it gently. She was longing to say the words, but she couldn't. There was always something stopping her from saying what she wanted to say most of all.

"They'll find a way, all of them," she said. "Just like we did."

Tony grimaced in response. "Camping away from society every weekend just so we can be together… it's not exactly the best way of dealing with things."

"But at least we have a chance to be together." Lucario adjusted her position in his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him closer. Both of them closed their eyes as their lips touched. Lucario leaned slightly to one side and Tony followed her lead; by the time the kiss ended, they were lying side by side on the ground.

Lucario smiled fondly at him again. "I look forward to every single weekend. I treasure the time we can spend together… in a different place each week, just the two of us… no interruptions, no other humans to tear us apart…" She was growing tired, despite her attempts to hide it. Tony unwound his arms from around her and climbed to his feet, returning moments later with a soft grey blanket from his backpack. He spread it over the dirt and helped Lucario onto it before settling down beside her.

"I'm sleepy…" Lucario gave a wide yawn, revealing sharp white fangs.

"Then go to sleep. We'll watch the sunrise together in the morning."

She huddled into his chest and curled up, her soft breathing soon filling the campsite. Tony lay awake beside her, his arms around his lover, simply listening. He would never say it, but he treasured their time together as much as Lucario did. He had seen how cruelly human society treated the ones they called Pokephiles. It was his wish that Lucario would never see what he had.

For a moment an image of his family flashed into his mind and he gave a rueful smile. What would they say if they knew he was lying here right now? If they knew he was one of those people always condemned for who they were?

"If only you could see me now," he murmured.

Lucario stirred slightly and lifted one arm, sliding it around his waist again. In her half-asleep state, she was barely aware of speaking the four words she had always longed to say, the words she had never managed.

"I love you, Tony."

He had known it for a long time, but finally hearing the words seemed to suddenly dissolve his insecurities. Suddenly he didn't care if the world knew what he was. He didn't care if they knew his relationship with Lucario was closer than that of best friends, as long as they could be together. And this time, he knew exactly how to respond.

"I love you too, Lucario."


End file.
